Tag Archives: Birnbeck Pier

Well, the day the sea froze isn’t being completely truthful. I was at Weston Super Mare yesterday morning, and walking along the beach the surf had indeed frozen. The seaweed too had an uncharacteristic white sparkly shimmer. Me thinks Real Live Rocking Dog had a lovely time on the beach. It’s difficult to fathom his emotions, but i’m sure he loves a bit of sea air and the sand between his toes!

As per normal the sea was well and truly out, it could be glimpsed at on the distant horizon, so there was no paddling to be had! Weston has a huge tidal range, it can rise and fall by as much as 14.5 m (48 ft). This statistic is second only in the world to the Bay of Fundy, Eastern Canada.

In the summer the town buzzes with day trippers and holiday makers. Large stretches of sand become congested with sandcastle makers, sunbathers, picnickers, deck chair users and donkeys. This is a traditional English holiday resort, but last summer W.S.M was funky-fied by the arrival of Banksy’s Dismaland. Normality has now sadly returned to the town and no doubt the traders and hoteliers would love another Banksy pop up!

A fan I am not of Weston Super Mare in the summer, but off season I love a bracing walk along the sand to blow away the cobwebs! Yesterday’s walk took me along the beach to the blandish rejuvenated Grand Pier to another older pier, Birnbeck Pier. In a very sorry delapidated state, there are plans afoot to bring the listed pier back to its former days of glory. As a child I remember going there with my parents to a very peculiar all year round market affair. Naff carpet, carpet tiles and rolls of cellophane inexplicably come to mind. More vivid are the memories of the gaps between the decking to get to the pier buildings. Even in the 1970’s the structure was in a perilous state. I was absolutely petrified walking along the seemingly endless planked walkway. I really hope work begins soon for this West Country treasure, for I love piers. They hark back to an age of Victorian cast iron, the Great Exhibition, bathing machines, the realisation of the benefits of taking in the sea air, promenading ladies, straw boaters and children in sailor suit attire. One pier of which I am particularly fond is the little pagoda’d jewel at Clevedon. Its claim to fame is of having been used as a backdrop for the series Broadchurch and in a One Direction pop video.

I found a sunny little cove to enjoy a coffee and bask in the frosty sunshine. It became obvious that this was a meeting place for the Weston ex-pat community! There were conversations about nursing homes, coughs, colds, ablutions and local authority care. Thoroughly depressing, and it was time to move on!

It was lovely to have a bracing blow about, and I hope there’ll be another opportunity or two before dogs are relegated from the beach and the bucket wielding day-trippers return.